


After Four Fucking Years

by homestuck_lover413



Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, Red Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-01
Updated: 2014-09-01
Packaged: 2018-02-15 19:17:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2240412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/homestuck_lover413/pseuds/homestuck_lover413
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Six years after the SBURB incident, John asks Karkat out. It is with more pleasure than he admits that the alternian says yes. Almost five years later, John is acting suspicious with Dave and Karkat is very worried.</p>
            </blockquote>





	After Four Fucking Years

One hour? Okay, there must have been traffic. Two hours? I guess the traffic was really bad? But by the third hour I was sitting by the window looking out into the snow covered streets of the capital of Earthternia’s second continent, riddled with worry. The continent was named ‘Condy’ in honour of the empress that we all managed to escape ten years ago. John thought that it would be good for us to live here since Dave and most of our friends were already here.  
  
“Karkat,” He would say “What kind of life is lived without friends?”  
  
“A peaceful one.” I would say but I never really meant it. That’s why I eventually gave in and we found a nice little apartment in the capital which was within cab distance of all of our friends which John really liked.  
  
I had been waiting for three hours for John to come home because I had just watched a particularly emotional romantic comedy with troll Will Smith in it and I really wanted to cuddle. Of course though I would make John think that it was his idea so it wouldn’t undermine my whole anger thing. It had died down a lot since we first started talking through PesterChum (or in my case, Trollian) but I was still ‘shouty’ and ‘angry’ according to Dave mostly but John occasionally called me those things too. He was usually joking though. Fuck I keep getting off track.  
  
The important thing is I was waiting for a long fucking time for my boyfriend to come home and nearing the fourth hour I was getting worried. Winters on Condy proved to be especially brutal and I had started to wonder if maybe John was somewhere freezing. Thats why I was at the window, staring out it and looking everywhere for John’s favorite blue parka which he had worn out. He left before I woke up in the morning so I hadn’t seen him all day but I got a message from him that he was going to be home at six-ish. That was almost four hours ago.  
  
I tried messaging him but he was just not responding and I was honestly worried out of my mind about him. He didn’t tell me where he was going so I didn’t even know where to look!  
  
Eventually I got cold just sitting around do I got up and started to pace our small living room while I waited to hear the click of the door opening and the slam of it closing. I needed to hear that noise soon or I would go insane.  
  
It was another hour and a half before I heard what I wanted to. I had been so worried that I didn’t even have to stomach to just sit down and watch another movie which would have made the waiting a lot easier.  
  
When I finally heard the slam, I turned around right away and glared at the doorway until I saw John walk past. I guess he thought that I was asleep (which I would have been if I hadn’t been so worried). He walked right into our bedroom and I followed after him quietly. He walked over to the bed and looked in the darkness for my form on the bed. I growled behind him from the doorway which made him jump and turn around to face me.  
  
“Jesus Karkat don’t sneak up on me like that!” He held his chest and looked at my silhouette. He recovered slightly and gave me a guilty smile while scratching the back of his head.  
  
“Where the fuck have you been?! You said you’d be home at six! It’s eleven fucking thirty!” I turned the light on and took a couple angry steps toward him, jabbing his chest with my finger. I could be threatening as hell when I wanted to be even despite the height difference. John was at least four inches taller than me.  
His smile disappeared and it turned into a face covered in terror. He did scare pretty easily which helped me at that moment. “K-Karkat.... I was out... I texted you!”  
  
“Yeah! You texted me at eleven AM that you would be home at six PM. Where. The. Fuck. Were. You.” I growled and glared up at him. I caught his hand trying to go up to rub my horns in order to calm me down but I slapped his hand away. “Stop that and explain yourself!!!” I yelled angrily.  
“I can’t.” He said simply.  
  
I started taking steps toward him again and he backed up to compensate. “I give you four fucking years of my life and you CAN’T FUCKING EXPLAIN YOURSELF?!” My face was flushed red and my eyes seemed to glow with anger. I hadn’t yelled like that for a long time so it was very clear why John was scared.  
“I w-would but I.... I j-just can’t!” He whined in a voice that I usually would have laughed at but I was just too angry at him.  
“THEN TELL ME WHY YOU CAN’T TELL ME.” I demanded.  
  
“I can’t do that either!” I was just about to yell at him some more but his phone went off in his pocket. His eyes went wide and more fear was apparent on his face as we both looked to his pocket.  
  
“Who is it?” My voice sounded a different kind of scary now. It was low and dangerous instead of loud and bruting. John used a slightly shaking hand to go to the pocket of his pants where his phone was ringing and vibrating and pull it out. He picked it up and talked quietly into the speaker.  
  
“Hello?... I can’t talk right now... I was in the mi--.... No, I know.... I can’t.... Yes it’s Karkat... I’m not going to say that to him!... Shut up!... You know what? I’m leaving..... Fine whatever I’ll see you tomorrow...” With those words he hung up without telling me who it was. I guess he thought if he ignored the question then it would go away and we would wake up next to each other like we always do. He was sorely mistaken.  
  
He started to get undressed and change into his pajamas right in front of me but I didn’t move. He didn't notice that I was still standing, in my regular clothes with my arms crossed until he was under the covers. He looked at me as if nothing had just happened and he patted the spot next to him. The place I always slept.  
  
“Come on, Karkitty... It’s late.”  
  
“I know it’s late.” I growled and glared at him.  
  
He blushed and bit his lip, which showed me his adorable buck teeth... Wait no, they weren’t adorable. I was mad at him. “Karkat I already told you I can’t tell you where I’ve been and I can’t tell you why.”  
  
He started to get up and walk over to me so he could put a hand on my shoulder but I wouldn’t have it. I moved away so he would know I didn’t want him touching me. He got the hint and frowned before putting his hand on top of his head.  
  
"Karkat it really can't tell you, I'm sorry but there's no way."  
  
"Who were you talking to on the phone?"  
  
"Uhh... Dave."  
  
"We're you with him today?"  
  
"Yeah....."  
  
I pouted and crossed my arms. John tried to hug me again but I backed up and growled threateningly at him. He put his hands up in defense and frowned.  
"Kitkat..."  
  
"Couch."  
  
He looked confused until I pointed right to the door and scowled at him. He frowned and looked sad but I managed to not buckle even though I kind of felt bad. I was mad at him, I reminded myself.  
  
"But baby! I--"  
  
"No. Couch, now." I said sternly then pushed past him to change into my own pajamas. I even put on the crab pajamas that John thought were cute to try and push him further to tell me. He saw this and pouted like a puppy but I shook my head and crawled into bed. I laid right in the middle and spread out to take up as much of the bed as I could.  
  
John whined but when he saw that I was really serious, he sulked out of the room and went to the couch to sleep. I curled up and looked at the clock. I tried to stop myself from over thinking this whole thing but I couldn't. John and Dave were really close friends and I knew that but he was acting so secretive. I never appreciated secrets and he knew that. What could possibly be so important that he had to keep me in the dark?  
  
It was two AM when I finally worried myself to sleep but the sleep I managed to get was restless. When I woke up at the same time I usually do, around ten, I was still dead tired. I shivered slightly at the cold that had seeped in through the night then waddled out of bed. I walked right to the closet and looked for my robe but I only saw John's fluffy blue one. I sighed softly and slowly pulled it on. I wore his robe often but it felt wrong to wear it with my suspicions running still through my mind. I wore it anyways and held it close to my body as I walked out to the living room to check on John.  
  
My anger from last night was reignited when I saw an empty couch and a note on the coffee table that said "Out with Dave, I promise I'll be home by six for real this time. I'm sorry about last night and I love you."  
  
He was with Dave again and I knew he wouldn't tell me what they were doing. It infuriated me and it made me all the more nervous. Was I driving John out of my arms and into Dave's too cool to be wide open ones? I sighed and held my head in my hands for a while before I heard a rumble in my stomach. I sighed dramatically and shuffled to the kitchen. Breakfast time. I pulled down a clean bowl and spoon from the cupboard and made myself some cereal. It wasn’t until I was almost done that I realized that I was eating from the crab bowl John got me for my last wriggling day.  
  
I wondered why there was so much of John’s stuff around then I remembered, oh yeah, the dumbass lives with me. I sighed and cleaned off my dishes before putting them back into the cupboard. I held the robe closer to myself as I walked back into the bedroom and crawled again under the blankets. I wasn’t in the mood to do anything, not even sleep, but that was what I ended up doing. I laid down in John’s spot on the bed and curled up with the robe pressed up to my face so I could smell his scent. Who knew how long I had before we split. I was never one to have lasting relationships in any quadrant anyway. Four years was really impressive.  
  
I fell asleep for a long time and this time I actually got some rest out of it. I guess I slept for longer than I thought because I was woken up by my boyfriend.  
  
“Karkat?” He murmured into my ear as my eyes fluttered open. I groaned softly then looked over to the clock which informed me that it was five twenty nine. John was early.  
  
I looked back into his eyes and debated on hugging him. “Hi John.” My tone was as cold as the weather outside. I kind of felt bad about it but at this point I was convinced he was going to leave me any minute now which obviously hurt me. He smiled and I felt an aching in my chest where my pusher was. I didn’t have long before I wasn’t going to be the one to make him smile.  
  
“Please tell me you aren’t still mad...” Even if I hadn’t been looking at him, I would have still known he was frowning because he just had one of those expressive voices.  
  
“No... Not mad...” He sighed in relief and sat down next to me on the bed before pulling me into a hug. I was about to push him away but once I was in his arms, I melted into his touch and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.  
  
“Thank goodness.” He said then pulled away and tried to kiss me. Now, that I could not allow. Especially not after he had probably been locking lips with Dave so shortly before. “Karkitty you said you weren’t mad!”  
  
“I’m not. I’m hurt and I have decided I’m going to stay with my ancestor for a while. I can’t stay here right now, John.”  
  
“Fuck, no please don’t move out! I... I’ll do anything!!”  
  
“Tell me if you’re cheating on me.”  
  
“W-what? No! What gave you that idea??”  
  
“You coming home at almost midnight then letting me know that you had been with Dave but you refused to tell me what you were doing. Not only is that one of the most fucking suspicious things on it’s own but you also, despite all that, still left me alone for a majority of the fucking day to again to do whatever shit you were doing with Dave yesterday and you still WON’T FUCKING TELL ME WHAT YOU WERE DOING WITH HIM!” I put my face in both my hands and willed myself not to cry. I had quadrant related trust issues because of the way Gamzee acted on the meteor ten years prior. I couldn’t do my moirail related duties for him plus he killed most of our friends, who thankfully are living peacefully spread around Condy and Earthternia. Gamzee wasn’t in jail or anything but he had to take medication and go to a therapist weekly to keep his rage under control.  
  
Anyway, after that, John looked at me like I accused him of not loving me which I guess I was so that made sense. “I c-can’t tell you! I just can’t!”  
  
I shook my head and stood up. I threw off his robe and walked over to the closet. I started to get dressed in my usual grey jeans and black turtle neck with my symbol on it but I wore snow boots instead on sneakers. I was leaving right now. He started to tear up and he grabbed my arm and my shoulder but I kept shaking him off. I wasn’t going to stay with Kankri, not really. Mostly because he pissed me off but I told him that because I needed to leave and be by myself without him knowing where I was. I put on my thick grey jacket and a blue scarf that I bought for myself a while ago.  
  
“Karkat, please!! Don’t leave!! It’ll ruin everything!” He shouted and dropped to his knees as I walked towards the door.  
  
“OH, YEAH? WHAT AM I GOING TO RUIN? YOUR CHANCE TO BE A FUCKING MANWHORE? OR MAYBE I’LL RUIN YOUR STUPID HUMAN BONER THAT ONLY WORKS WHEN YOU’RE BREAKING SOMEONE’S PUSHER?!” I yelled out then didn’t give him a chance to reply. I ran out of the apartment and slammed the door behind me but not before I secretly grabbed my keys and phone. I would come back, just not until very late.  
  
I trudged through the snow in the direction of Kanaya’s apartment but I didn’t really want to see her. I knew she would be with Rose and I just couldn’t see any couples right now. I walked in front of her apartment building but then continued on, shuffling on to somewhere even I didn’t know. My hands were shoved deep in the pockets of my jacket and after about an hour and a half of walking, I started to shiver. Since I’m a mutant, I’m warmer than most other trolls so I could stay outside for longer than let’s say, Eridan could.  
  
Suddenly, I heard a buzz from my phone that wasn’t John’s special ringtone. I frowned and leaned against a lamp post as I pulled out my phone. John stopped calling me about twenty minutes ago but I half expected him to have gone to Dave’s apartment and call me from his phone but it wasn’t Dave either. It was a text from Kankri.  
  
"Karkat, y9ur human 69yfriend is 6ec9ming increasingly anxi9us c9ncerning y9ur a6sence as can 6e seen 6y his numer9us calls t9 my h9me. Y9u sh9uld talk t9 him t9 try t9 alleviate this anxiety lest he 6e triggered 6y merely perceived, 6ut still t9tally valid, views that y9u are neglecting him."  
  
I sighed and shook my head while completely 'forgetting' to reply. If he was cheating on me, why the fuck was he so frantic when I left? I considered going back right then but I decided to wait at least an hour before I started walking home. What if he still wouldn't tell me after all of this? Was I being irrational? Those were just some of the things I thought about as I walked around the park near my ex-moirail's apartment. By the time I walked the whole perimeter, it had been the hour I demanded I wait so I had no excuse. I started to walk home.  
  
Love is a funny thing, some say. It makes people do crazy things. Things that no one in their right mind would do but then again, that was complete bullshit. Or so I thought until I saw John walking about ten blocks away from our apartment with no jacket or boots. Just jeans, sneakers and a t-shirt. I withheld a yell as I ran through the snow which was half way up his shin. I took off my jacket right away and threw it on him because I was only mildly shivering whereas he was quaking with cold and he informed me that he couldn't feel his ears.  
  
"What the fuck are you doing out here like this you dumbass?!"  
  
"I cane tah hind yah."  
  
"What?"  
  
That was when I found out he couldn't move his lips. I sighed and started walking him home as fast as I could. We were back in the apartment in ten minutes and I, right away, ordered John to strip. If it had been any other time, he would have made some goofy comment that made me blush then yell at him for making me blush but this wasn't one of those times. While he peeled out of his wet, cold clothes, I drew a hot bath and cranked up the heat. When John was ready, I pulled him into the bathroom and helped him into the bath. He yelped because I'm sure it felt ten times more hot than it was because of how cold he was.  
"Just sit the fuck down asshat."  
  
He did as he was told and sat down slowly while letting out small hisses and contorting his face with discomfort. I grabbed a wet washcloth and threw it in the microwave for a few seconds before going back to John. Sure, I was cold but John was colder so I gave him the washcloth and told him to put the steamy cloth over his face to warm up his muscles. While he did that, I used my hands to gently wash his hair and warm up his flaming red ears.  
It took about half an hour but he finally stopped shivering and he told me he felt warmed up. I was too by then with the added help of the water on my hands and the turtle neck so I nodded but still kneeled by the side of the bathtub.  
  
"Karkat..." He said softly as he looked over to me when he noticed how sad I looked.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Please join me?"  
  
"Fuck no. You're not freezing to death just to get one last lay out of me before we break up."  
  
"Karkat?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"Everything you just said was over five hundred percent wrong."  
  
I stared at him for a second then shook my head and stood up. He watched me as I walked out of the bathroom and I heard him sigh sadly. I knew he was pouting, that is until I came back wearing my swimming shorts. He smiled brightly then reached out as I handed him his. I only smiled a little as I stepped lightly in the still warm bath while he pulled on his bathing suit. I sat down facing him with my arms crossed and he just looked at me for a while.  
"What are you looking at you butt?"  
  
He laughed at that. "Your insults are sounding less hurtful and more like they were thought up by a wriggler." He teased and poked my side. I couldn't help but laugh because I'm extremely ticklish.  
  
"That extremely useless observation that required very little thought, if any, did not answer my question." I raised my eyebrows and gave him one of those faces that said I dare you to challenge me.  
  
He sighed and smiled his goofy smile at me. I couldn't stop myself from smiling back. "I just... You're so beautiful..."  
  
"Fucking... John, one, I'm a guy. Two, I'm not any form of beautiful, masculine or otherwise." I pouted and looked away from him. "Plus you probably told Dave the same thing so why should I believe you?"  
  
"What?? Karkat I told you I'm not cheating on you. Plus Dave would throw a fit if I ever called him anything other than cool or ironic." He moved closer to me and reached over to grab my hand. I was so done with acting like I had this thick shell and I was more angry than I was hurt because none of it was true so I let him hold my hand without pulling away at all. More things get to me than I've ever let on.  
  
"Then why are you spending so much time with him and why won't you tell me what you're doing?" My voice revealed too many of my feelings for my taste but it seemed to do to John what I hadn't accomplished with yelling or running out or making him sleep on the couch. I looked back over to him and right into his uncovered eyes. Damn they were blue. And hurt. He looked like he wanted with all his heart to tell me but there was something holding him back.  
  
"After we get out of the bath.... I'll tell you everything."  
  
I blinked at him then nodded slowly. My fingers slowly tightened around his because ours were interlaced and I wanted him to know that I was right there for him and I loved him. He smiled a little and I fully reciprocated this time.  
  
It took everything I had to wait out the rest of the bath without rushing John at all. We washed each other's hair and bodies (he washed mine and he was especially careful of my horns and grub scars which I liked) before we finally got out. We pulled off our bathing suits and hung them up to dry before we wrapped ourselves in big fluffy towels. They were my favorites because they were soft and almost blankets. I shuffled into the bedroom while purring so that I could put on some pajamas. John came in after I was dressed in my fancy pale blue silk pajamas and asked if I could meet him out in the living room. I shrugged and walked back outside to let my boyfriend get dressed. I sat and waited not too patiently for him to come outside and tell me what the shit was going on.  
I was waiting for fifteen minutes but I didn’t complain because when John finally out, he was in a black three piece suit with a blue silk tie and a grey button up under the vest and coat. I stood up and gasped as I looked over him.  
  
“John what the fuck are you wearing?” I didn’t sound angry because I wasn’t. I was wondering why he was wearing something so fancy when I was planning on going to sleep right after this and I had been assuming he was going to do the same thing. Maybe I was wrong? Suddenly I was nervous. Was he leaving right now? He was totally going to leave me right now and go on a night out to celebrate.  
  
“I’m wearing what I was planning on wearing on our fifth anniversary.”  
  
“But, John... Our anniversary... It’s three days from today... Why?” I shook my head and looked at him with confusion written all over my face. He grabbed my hand and pulled me closer to him before kissing my cheek.  
  
“I didn’t want to lose you so... I’m making this happen as Dave would say.”  
  
“John what the fuck seriously please ju--”  
  
“Dave and I have been working together on planning how this friday was going to work and we had almost everything planned. I’ve been staying with him for so long lately because I was so nervous that I was just going to mess everything up and our special day wasn’t going to be as special that I wanted it to be, so he offered to coach me in being cool so I could impress you. The truth is, I was nervous because of this...” With that, he was on one knee in front of me. He pushed his glasses up on his nose and sighed as he reached into his pocket for a little black velvet box. I looked at the box and my eyebrows knitted together. What was he doing? He looked up into my eyes as he lifted the lid open to reveal a beautiful ring with a deep red diamond in the center and little clear diamonds ran down either side of the silver part of the ring. I looked between the ring and my boyfriend’s eyes with a look of disbelief. “Will you marry me Karkat?”  
  
I blinked a few times. “Will I do what to you?”  
  
“Will you... Will you marry me?”  
  
“John what does that even mean? Is that even a sentence?”  
  
“You.... Right....” He nodded and stood up. I guess he forgot sometimes that I’m not human or that I don’t know all his human customs. “I’m basically asking you to drop all your quadrants and let me fill all of them forever. I guess that’s the best way to explain it.”  
  
"Forever??"  
  
"Yeah... At least that's the promise you make when you get married. I hope we'll make it through forever."  
  
I paused and took one more step closer to him so that I could rest my head on his shoulder. There was silence for a long time where I was just looking at the inside of my eyelids and he was nervously holding the ring box. It took me a whole five minutes to collect my thoughts and when I looked back up to him there were red tinted tears in my eyes.  
  
“Oh, gosh Karkat, what’s wrong??”  
  
I shook my head with a little smile as I stood up on my tip toes so that I could reach John’s lips. I kissed him softly and held the side of his face in the hopes of comforting him a bit because when I shook my head it seemed that I had worried him. I pulled away when he didn't stop tensing up and smiled at him.  
  
"Karkat..."  
  
"I will."  
  
"Wait, seriously??"  
  
I laughed at the fact that now he was the one not believing me. I nodded at him then pulled the hand holding the little black box with the ring in it up a bit so I could take the ring out. John let me with the widest smile on his face. He continued to watch me as I slid the ring onto my 'ring finger' as I heard john call it before then admired the way the red gem stood out on my pale grey hand. He grabbed my hand and kissed the back of it. I blushed pale red and watched him.  
"I love you Karkitty."  
  
"I don't know how many times I've asked you not to call me that but since you insist on continuing the nickname, I'll let it slide since we're getting human married. Im flushed for you too John."  
  
He smiled wider and goofier than he ever had before around me and I couldn't help but smile in return. I threw my arms around his neck and pulled him into another kiss. This time he held my waist and kissed me back but this one was a bit more lasting than the last one. I pulled away after some number that felt right and I poked his cheek.  
  
"Now go change into your pjs, not that I don't find this whole getup totally attractive. I wanna cuddle with my forever matesprit."  
  
"Right now I'm your fiancé," he explained to me with a chuckle. "And once we're married I'll be your husband."  
  
"Ohh! Okay but you still have to change." I growled at him playfully then laughed. He rolled his eyes at me then grabbed grabbed my left hand as we walked back into our bedroom to start the first night of forever together.


End file.
